day 31: this is just the beginning

This is it - the last day of writing for 31 days on diving deeply into love.

Let me just take a moment to praise God because from the second week on, I wasn't sure how I was going to make it this far.

{Hallelujah! Thank You, Lord. Amen}

But that's the way God works...carrying you beyond your own strength. 

And really, this is just the beginning because it takes more than 31 days to learn how to love deeply. I need more time to soak in what it means to dive into love deeply. Writing these posts was wonderful, but it also made it harder to be still and focus on the challenges.

All of this writing? It was just God's way of getting me to think about how to love Him heart, soul, mind and strength and to love others...those I love already, the poor in spirit, my (gulp) enemies, strangers, myself.

I need more than 31 days to complete all of the challenges. I'm still stuck somewhere between weeks one and two, though I did manage to squeak in a few challenges from weeks three and four by God's grace.

photo source

So let today be the first day of the real adventure in deep love diving. May it become a lifestyle, conscious choice and a second skin. That's my prayer for today and every day here on out and may these pages and these posts reflect God's love and encourage others to do this deep love dive too.

If you joined me for one or more days of diving, what challenge challenged you the most? And how is God growing you in the areas of love?  

*Images for the Deep Love Diving banners and buttons were courtesy of this site.

day 30: how love grows your prayers

Last night came "the storm."

Trees waved wildly, power flickered then went out, glass from our second story porch landed on the neighbor's driveway, wind moaned through cracks and crevices, pushed doors open; slammed others shut.

And I rejoiced that even in the worst of storms, we can feel God's peace and know Him to be stronger than the strongest wind and seek Him as our fortress and shelter.

I thanked Him for the inner calm through the storm.

That's a good thing - rejoicing when the world rages around you - but when you dive deeply into love, God begins to expand your horizons and changes your prayers.   

And when you reach the mark of peace that surpasses all understanding, God doesn't leave you there. He moves you to the next step.

He moved me last night.

He reminded me that although I might feel all calm and peaceful and trusting in Him, there are many who don't know Him or whose peace is easily shaken.

And when you are learning to love deeply, suddenly He expands your prayers from focusing on "me and mine" and opens you up to pray for others and think of others in ways you never considered before.

So will you join me in magnified prayer?  Let's ask Him to:

• Show us how we can help the elderly or homebound when they lose power - perhaps with a meal, extra blankets or bringing them to a place with heat
• Use His provisions of heat and electricity during winter storms to bless others who have lost theirs
• Wake the workers who need to get to their jobs, especially if their alarm clocks stop working while they sleep
• Expand the patience for us all while we are waiting for power to return and give grace to the people who are working to clean up messes and restore electricity
• Use these storms to help us shine His light and love into the lives of those who do not know Him

sharing with:

*Images for the Deep Love Diving banners and buttons were courtesy of this site.

day 29: six loving yourself secrets

This time last year things started to unravel.

I was beginning to unravel. See the post I wrote exactly one year ago today. {How good is God that He knows the timing of all things!}

It's what happens when you forget to love yourself or give yourself permission to love yourself. Because when you grow up believing you are a selfish person, then loving yourself just feels like one more way you are taking more than your share.

And living in a first world country where you've never been hungry, always been clothed, always had access to safe water, shelter and medical care, had parents who paid for your college education, have taken vacations to "get away from it all" and can more or less buy what you want and not just what you need to survive...

Well...asking for anything more just seems to feed that selfish cycle.

Becoming a follower of Christ only increased my guilt because, suddenly, I actually cared that other people were starving, impoverished, uneducated and unable to get away from it all. It's much easier living without the knowledge that what you believe and what you do on this earth actually have eternal ramifications.

The only way I could imagine fighting selfish desires was to be hard on myself.

So I hesitated to ask for help and denied that I needed time for myself. And I looked for ways to do less for myself and more for others. And I pushed and pushed myself to meet the expectations I set.

Thank God He let wall come a-tumbling down just before Christmas.

Almost one year later, I think I might be learning how to love myself one small step at a time. Here are six ways I'm learning to walk in that freedom:

Six Loving Yourself Secrets:

• Walk with God. 
• Cling to Him. 
• Ask Him to help you know Him to the exclusion of all else. 
• Remember He is kind. 
• Remember He loves. 
• Remember He forgives when you seek His forgiveness and so you must forgive yourself.
  

Do you have a hard time loving yourself too? How might you love others better if you loved yourself the way God loves you?

Sharing these secrets and these gifts with Ann @ A Holy Experience:
#1000...seeing God in a 1000 beautiful ways
1001...learning to love myself the way God loves me
1002...that 31 days of writing are almost over
1003...a shelter from the storm
1004...quaking in my boots because I know I need God to get me through
1005...closing in on a new church home (please, please) 

day 28: sunday soundtrack

Your strength beyond mine. Beyond anything. Your voice capable of bringing down trees. And I am strong when I am brought to me knees by your love at your throne.

  

     (View all the 31 Days of Deep Love Diving posts here )  

This week I'm learning to love God with all my strength and loving strangers. Want to join me? Please click here for this week's challenges.


*Images for the Deep Love Diving banners and buttons were courtesy of this site.

day 27: my favorite three ways to love a stranger

(View all the 31 Days of Deep Love Diving posts here )
 
On Thursday, I dove more deeply into the idea of loving strangers.

And buying fair trade is becoming one of my favorite ways to love someone I may never meet this side of heaven. Or ever. If you're new to buying fair trade, allow me to introduce you to Delicate Fortress Creations*. I love their mission and I hope you will too. (Read what I wrote about DFC here)

Here are a couple other of my favorites in case you're looking for ways to expand your love too:

Favorite way #2: Sponsoring children through World Vision. Plus shopping their gift catalog. And reading their magazine. The needs of this world can be overwhelming. Thankfully, organizations like World Vision make it easier to help others in need and make us aware of their plight. And maybe, just maybe, if you sponsor a child (or two or ten), strangers will become friends.     

one of our sponsor children

Favorite way #3: Donating food and needed items to our local community service center. Hunger is a growing issue in the United States too. Our local community service center is seeing an increased number of people turning to them for food support. I love that I can donate items from my garden, my kitchen and purchased non-perishables to people right in my community.

But this is just a first step in learning to love well. Through this whole loving others deeply process, God is showing me that to really love I need to step out of my comfort zone and turn strangers into people that I know. To learn their stories and to lean on God to provide the means to love them. Because without Him, I'd just be a "resounding gong or clanging cymbal." 

*As an ambassador, I receive some perks for promoting DFC's items. However, I would do this regardless of whether I received anything from them because I believe in their mission and I try to buy fair trade as much as possible. If you'd rather go through the regular DFC site, you can click this link.

 

This week I'm learning to love God with all my strength and loving strangers. Want to join me? Please click here for this week's challenges. 

*Images for the Deep Love Diving banners and buttons were courtesy of this site.

Day 26: imagine if Jesus had us remember Him with these {vegan cinnamon roll recipe}

Most Fridays I share recipes aimed at a healthier me, healthier you and a healthier world. And as I mentioned here, I believe food and love are somehow connected - sharing a meal was one of the last things Jesus did before laying down His life for us. Which is why recipes are part of Deep Love Diving. (View all the 31 Days of Deep Love Diving posts here)

Not that there's anything less special about unleavened bread. Because it's the breaking and the sharing and the remembering that is important. But it's fun to play with the idea of what Communion might look like if Jesus chose a different food to represent His sacrifice.

Like cinnamon rolls. 

Last year, at our favorite vacation spot - a cottage on Lake Huron near Goderich, Ontario, Dave delighted the kids by making cinnamon rolls from a can (plus bacon and eggs and other things that don't factor into our usual our simple breakfasts). Back home, we already began looking forward to our cottage-style breakfasts upon our return to the cottage this year. 

And then (dramatic pause) we started eating "healthy." This is how Reese likes to term our foray into veganism after my dad was diagnosed with heart disease. 

Which meant cinnamon rolls from a can could not, in my estimation, be a part of our cottage breakfast experience. 

Instead, I was determined to find a healthier version - one that was vegan, lower in sugar and fat. And one that passed the Dave taste test - my husband loves his desserts and is typically skeptical that anything not made with butter, white sugar or white flour could be tasty. And here's the recipe that won his approval. So you know it's gotta be good. And it's really not that hard, even though the recipe might look daunting.

Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

dough:
3/4 c almond milk
1 package (2 1/4 tsp) yeast
1 T agave or honey if you use it
1 T ground flax in 3 T water
1/2 tsp chia seeds in 2 T water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 c whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 c - 1 c spelt flour

making the dough:
1. Gently warm the almond milk (too hot and it will kill the yeast), then add the yeast and sugar. Let it stand for 5 minutes.
2. Let the ground flax/water and chia/water mixes stand for 5 minutes.
3. In a mixer, combine the flax/water, chia/water, salt and whole wheat pastry flour with the milk/yeast mixture. Stir to combine.
4. Stir in spelt flour 1/4 c at a time until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Use your dough hook to knead in the remaining flour until the dough loses its stickiness and is smooth and supple.
5. Knead 5-8 minutes.
6. Cover with a damp cloth and let it rise for 1-1.5 hours or until doubled.
7. On a floured surface, roll out dough into a large rectangle. The dough should be 1/4" thick. Spread on filling, roll up the rectangle lengthwise and cut it into 8 rolls. The easiest way to do this is cut the rolled dough in half, then cut those halves in half, then cut everything into half again.
8. Bake for 35-45 minutes at 250 degrees F.
9. When cooled, top with glaze.


filling ingredients:
1/2 c date paste
1/2 - 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 - 3/4 c water
1/2 c finely ground pecans

making the filling:
1. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan.
2. Stir over low heat until thoroughly combined and the mixture has the consistency of apple butter.


glaze ingredients:
1/2 c almond milk
2 T tapioca
2 T maple syrup

making the glaze:
1. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat.
2. Stir until thickened.

This week I'm learning to love God with all my strength and loving strangers. Want to join me? Please click here for this week's challenges.

*Images for the Deep Love Diving banners and buttons were courtesy of this site.

day 25: loving those you may never meet

(View all the 31 Days of Deep Love Diving posts here )

Loving strangers is the other theme for this week's Deep Love Diving challenges.

It's that Hebrews verse always keeps me on my toes. After all who would want to pass up the chance to entertain an angel? And there's always that clincher about whatever we do for the "least of these" we are doing for God.

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to ignore God. Whether I recognize Him or not.

So that's why I'm thinking about loving strangers deeply this week and beyond.

strang·er n.

1. One who is neither a friend nor an acquaintance.

2. A foreigner, newcomer, or outsider.

3. One who is unaccustomed to or unacquainted with something specified; a novice: a stranger to our language; no stranger to hardship.

4. A visitor or guest.

5. Law One that is neither privy nor party to a title, act, or contract.

("stranger" definition courtesy of here)

Today, I'm asking you to help me love stranger #1: one who is neither a friend nor an acquaintance. And you get to love stranger #1 by shopping. Yes, shopping! Are you in?

Here's the scoop:

Every day we make purchase decisions and we're about to enter the season where many, many purchase decisions are made in Jesus' name (a.k.a. Christmas). But how often do we think about the impact our purchases to celebrate Christ's birth have on the ones He loves? The ones who made the items you buy and gift. The ones who make less than a living wage, whose personal safety is at risk, who work in conditions unacceptable in our first world country so we can buy things cheaply. 

Finding great deals comes at a cost. I'm learning to count that cost and find ways to make a difference in the life of a stranger.

Buying fair trade is one of those ways (here's where the shopping comes in). 

As an ambassador to Delicate Fortress Creations* (DFC), it's my joy to share with you about their mission. In a nutshell, they provide a way for well-meaning consumers (that's you) to buy items made by women who want a way out of poverty, slavery the threat of human trafficking. Their dignity is restored because they receive a fair wage for the work they produce.

But really, the best way to learn about DFC is to visit their site so you can fall in love first hand with their mission and the items they sell. Like this one:

Brianna wanted to buy a necklace from a local store a couple of weeks ago. I suggested we visit DFC's store instead so she could find something she loved and love others at the same time. Her necklace was made by Radiant Hope and her purchase helps fight forced prostitution and gendercide in the Middle East. (Though this exact necklace is no longer available, you can find plenty of others here.)

Now it's your turn. :) If you're looking for something to gift to yourself or another, browse through the beautiful items at Delicate Fortress Creations. Oh, and if you can find a happy coincidence in this post and mention it in the comments, I'll send you a little something from DFC.

Additional shopping tip: If you have specific items in mind that you're in the market for and DFC doesn't happen to carry them, consider googling "fair trade [the item you want]" to see if you can buy it fair trade. Or you can look for items made in the USA or other first world countries - ones that don't typically exploit their workers.

This week I'm learning to love God with all my strength and loving strangers. Want to join me? Please click here for this week's challenges.

*As an ambassador, I receive some perks for promoting DFC's items. However, I would do this regardless of whether I received anything from them because I believe in their mission and I try to buy fair trade as much as possible. If you'd rather go through the regular DFC site, you can click this link.

>Images for the Deep Love Diving banners and buttons were courtesy of this site.

day 24: the fastest way to God

(View all the 31 Days of Deep Love Diving posts here )

I never thought about fasting until I knew Jesus. Not eat food on purpose? That sounded like pure craziness.

Even when I first began to follow Him and was introduced to the concept through other believers, it still seemed crazy. I didn't really believe it was something I needed to do to draw closer to God and fasting to get God to answer prayer seemed rather manipulative, like "Look God. I'm not eating so that you'll answer my prayer favorably."

Obviously I didn't get it.

I still didn't get it the first couple of times I tried it, but then, I did it for the wrong reasons. For the longest time after, I feared fasting food, avoided it like the plague, denied that it's something God would ever ask me to do again. (Side note: He never "asked" me to fast those first couple of times. I did it because I thought I had messed up and fasted to repent for my lack of obedience. When really, all I had to do was repent and ask for forgiveness.) Instead I chose to fast from other things like TV, the computer, books.  

picking through garbage for food (photo source)

Then, I read Seven by Jen Hatmaker and the idea of fasting from food again took hold. I liked the idea of fasting to better understand the hunger pangs of the poor and to sharpen my ability to pray for those who go without daily sustenance.

So I tried it. It was hard and not fun and I felt weak most of the day, but it also drew me to thoughtfully pray for the hungry.

But what started out as an experiment in fasting for the hunger has become about fasting to sharpen my hunger for God. To learn what it means to lean on His strength, to ask Him to be my Bread and my sustenance, to acknowledge that I cannot live on bread alone. I need Him. I want to crave Him.

It's still hard and not fun and I often think about the food I'll eat the next day. But for that moment, I learn what it means to rely on His strength and not my own.

Have you ever fasted from food (more that chocolate or desserts during Lent)? What challenged you the most?
 

If you've never fasted before:

• Caution: Fasting is a powerful spiritual weapon - see Jesus in the desert - never fast for the wrong reasons as I initially did. A few of the good reasons to fast: you want to be closer to God, you're seeking His guidance and will for a certain area, to pray on behalf of others. 
• Check your Bible to learn why people fasted.
• Prayerfully ask to God to guide the details of your fast: i.e. what you will fast, the length of time, the reasons.
• If you are doing a total fast (from food and water) or even fasting from most of the foods you usually enjoy, there will probably come a point where you think fasting is pointless and stupid. Persevere through this feeling. This is the time to lean on God's strength to get you through.

This week I'm learning to love God with all my strength and loving strangers. Want to join me? Please click here for this week's challenges.


*Images for the Deep Love Diving banners and buttons were courtesy of this site.

day 23: why it takes strength to walk

God is faithful. That's the straight up truth.

If you read yesterday, I confessed an uncertainty as to what I'll be writing about this week in relation to learning to love God with all my strength. And then I went to Bible study this morning where I picked up this week's Home Training Lesson: Walking & Talking with your Child.

I didn't notice the title until I got home, put Ben down for a nap, curled up with my current fave snack - sliced green apples and peanut butter - and began to read the lesson.

After the second paragraph I did a mental face palm because I had only spent the last week studying about Adam's line through Seth and this guy, Enoch, who chose to walk with God for 300 years. Now that takes some strength.

I love how God used a lesson designed to teach children to get me to see what I could not in my adult-Bible-study role. Because I want to be a teachable child.

With my mind filled to the brim on this walking-with-God concept, 'm off to learn what that means step-by-baby-step.

This week I'm learning to love God with all my strength and loving strangers. Want to join me? Please click here for this week's challenges.



*Images for the Deep Love Diving banners and buttons were courtesy of this site.

sharing with:

day 22: because it's not about the biceps

It's the last full week of this crazy 31-day writing fest and I am thanking. God. it's almost over. He really is the One Who has carried me this far. I certainly couldn't do this in my own strength and truthfully, have felt like giving up. Like now.

Which so neatly ties into one of this week's themes: loving God with all of our strength.

As I anticipated this week, I kept thinking how ridiculous it seemed, because my strength is nothing compared to His. And it's hard to comprehend how He could grow this strength-loving thing in me anyway. Sure I could weight-lift, but I don't think bigger biceps are exactly what He has in mind. And it's not like I could hug Him harder anyway, because, well, it's hard to hug the One Who is invisible.

So here's my theory for what God might have in mind for this week (and I don't think it will involve any dates with the barbells)...

I think He might teach us to love Him with all of our strength when we use the strength He gives us to love those around us.

It could involve hugging those around us, helping to carry a load, using our gifts to encourage another or holding someone who feels they are falling to pieces.

And I'm completely curious what He's going to have me write about this week, because unlike the past three weeks, I have not neatly mapped out plan. Then again, maybe this is Lesson 1: Learning that when I am weak, then I am strong, because I am leaning on the One Who makes me stronger.

This week I'm learning to love God with all my strength and loving strangers. Want to join me? Please click here for this week's challenges.



*Images for the Deep Love Diving banners and buttons were courtesy of this site.

week 4 deep love diving challenges

(If you're planning on joining me for this week's challenges, I'd love to know...and to hear about your ideas and experience for loving God with all your strength and loving strangers.)  

My focus on loving God this week is to try and understand and carry out what it means to love Him with all of my strength. If you'd like to join me in this strength-loving-God journey, here are this week's challenges (some of these can happen over the course of several days or be repeated):

• Meditate, pray about, think on what it means to love God with all of our strength
• Hunt up Scriptures which talk about God's strength vs. our own
• Fast
• Truthfully, I'm coming up short on this one, so I'll probably be spending most of my time thinking and praying about it. And if inspiration strikes, I'll add more challenges here. Strangely enough, I can think of tons of ideas for loving strangers. Good thing God said that whatever we did "for the least of these" we do for Him. And because He is faithful: take a walk one-on-one with God

My focus on loving others this week is to love strangers. If you'd like to join me in loving people you've never met before, here are this week's challenges:

• Let another person go first. Just because.
• Give a card to a stranger. I suggest finding a generic, possibly humorous one. I found one on faith that didn't have to do with birthdays, getting well, grieving or thanking someone. That was a needle in a haystack and I found it at Hallmark.
• Pay for someone you don't know. This could be buying a $5 gift card at a coffee place or grocery store or paying someone else's toll at a toll booth.
• Pray for people in need. Visit an organization dedicated to helping others (like World Vision), find a story that moves your heart on their site and start praying for ones you've never met.
• Buy at least one fair trade product this week. In doing so you are loving a stranger by helping them earn a better wage and work toward enjoying the same rights we take for granted in our first world countries.
• Do a love stretch: Think about sharing a meal with a stranger. This one will take prayer but please don't take any crazy risks. Do this publicly and possibly with a friend along. 

 *Images for the Deep Love Diving banners and buttons were courtesy of this site.

day 21: sunday soundtrack

I call you answer, never far from me. Your love calls, echoing. And how precious to me are your thoughts.

  

     (View all the 31 Days of Deep Love Diving posts here )  

The challenge: Learn what it means to be quick to listen and slow to speak. In my time with God I'm quick to jump in and share what's on my heart and mind. Which isn't a bad thing, except, in the words of Marilla, He must have a hard time "getting a word in edgewise." I think it's the fear of silence which keeps me talking because the worst thing that could happen is that I ask to hear from Him, yet I get...nothing. So on Sundays, I'm going to face this fear and practice silence on my part. And Emily is doing her 31 Days on this very thing.     
 

The challenge: Do a love stretch. Today I'm stretching myself to love my loved ones beyond what I normally do. I picked Sundays to practice love stretching because I often spend most of this day resting...literally. And though this practice helps me recharge for the week ahead, I'm not sure huddled up in my room, away from my family is exactly what God had in mind. At least it doesn't feel that way to me. So I'm experimenting this month to see if I can find a better balance between resting and loving others - namely, my family.  *Images for the Deep Love Diving banners and buttons were courtesy of this site.

day 20: know God {a printable}

Eleven years ago today, before I had fully let Him into my heart, God began teaching me the made-for-each-other kind of love.

Six years ago today, He grew my mother-heart and my knowing of Him as a loving parent when we welcomed our third child, Luke, into our family.

Luke @ a couple months old - the date stamp lies

Today, I'm still learning about His love and how to love Him back with a I-can't-get-enough-of-You kind of love, and not a love that is based out of obligation or fear of making Him mad at me. Believe me, I have a looong way to go in learning this love lesson.

And because I can't of a more clever way of linking those above paragraphs with this next bit (I'm all focused on celebrating an anniversary and a birthday on the same day!), I'll just throw it out there.

It's this:

A printable to sum up the loving God theme for this week. Because I want to know Him so fully that it leaves no room for knowing anything else. The picture is from here. The words I added. And you may print it for your personal use from my Scribd page. (It printed a little darker than it appears on my screen.)  

FYI...the whole loving my enemy thing was a total fail this week. I got about as far as this and then have stayed there this week, learning to love the unlovely moments. But then, if I could learn to love that well in just one week, much less 31 Days, I imagine pride would rear it's ugly head and tell me I was amazing. Which is a total like. Because only He is.

(View all the 31 Days of Deep Love Diving posts here )

This week I'm learning to love God with all my mind and loving my enemy (a.k.a. the people I'd rather not have to deal with). Want to join me? Please click here for this week's challenges.



*Images for the Deep Love Diving banners and buttons were courtesy of this site.

Day 19: FMF, looking to love and an autumn bread recipe

Because I love the Five Minute Friday community, I'm going to attempt to participate through this 31 Days and tie Lisa's prompt word to loving deeply. The "regular" 31 Days of Deep Love Diving post follows...Fridays I share a recipe along with the DLD challenges.

Five minutes on "look"
I look in the mirror and I don't always like what I see. The physical mirror can lie about what lies inside.

Sometimes I detest my appearance thinking it does not match the beauty, the joy inside me...mother-tired don't look beautiful except to the One Who Sees the cause for tiredness in the midnight wakings of little ones.

Other times, I like what I see on the outside but it does not match the ugly going on inside...the horrible judgements, thoughts, and foolish pride.

So I am grateful that God is looking at my heart and is helping me to get rid of the things which must go, but loving me all the time.

And I want to love as He does. Love myself as He does. Love others and their hearts as much as the One Who created them can.


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Most Fridays I share recipes aimed at a healthier me, healthier you and a healthier world. And as I mentioned here, I believe food and love are somehow connected - sharing a meal was one of the last things Jesus did before laying down His life for us. Which is why recipes are part of Deep Love Diving. (View all the 31 Days of Deep Love Diving posts here)

What could be greater than a God who tells us He is the Bread of Life and then chooses to have us remember Him by breaking bread with one another? Personally, I'm eternally grateful He choose to have us remember Him in this way and not with say...brussel sprouts.

Here's a simple bread recipe for you to try. It's a twist on the traditional Irish soda bread which gets top billing every March 17. I made this bread when we celebrated the Canadian Thanksgiving (we celebrate Thanksgiving for both countries...just one of the perks of a "mixed" marriage).

It's especially nice with apple butter (organic of course!) and for sandwich bread featuring this recipe by Angela Liddon of Oh She Glows (one of my favorite go-to vegan recipe sites). Seriously yummy!

Autumn Irish Soda Bread

dry ingredients:
3 c. whole grain flour (I used a combination of spelt and oat flours)
3/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1.5 tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. cloves
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
raw pumpkin seeds (optional)

wet ingredients:
1 1/4 - 1 1/2 c. Silk unsweetened soy or almond milk
2 tsp. agave or maple syrup
1/2 c. pumpkin puree (organic is best)

1. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Combine 1 1/4 c milk, the sweetener and the pumpkin in a separate bowl and stir until thoroughly mixed.
3. Make a well in the dry ingredients, pour in the wet ingredients and gently stir until just combined. If needed, add more milk.
4. Form into a rounded shape and place on a greased baking sheet or one lined with parchment paper.
5. Bake for about 1 hour at 250 degrees F (I bake at low temperatures but the reason for doing so would take too long to explain. If you're curious why, please email me.

This week I'm learning to love God with all my mind and loving my enemy. Want to join me? Please click here for this week's challenges.


*Images for the Deep Love Diving banners and buttons were courtesy of this site.

day 18: out to love

Today I don't feel like writing. I'd rather be out learning to love God and love others (especially my enemies). But tomorrow I'll have a recipe and Saturday a printable.

So instead, if you're looking something good to read, turn to your Bible. God always has a better Word than I do.

And if you want to see what love looks like, here's something that grabs my heart every time...

This week I'm learning to love God with all my mind and loving my enemy (a.k.a. the people I'd rather not have to deal with). Want to join me? Please click here for this week's challenges.